Bally’s Total Fitness Getting A Total Body Makeover

Bally’s Total Fitness at 1720-1728 Sheepshead Bay Road is undergoing renovations. A gym-goer sent us this photo of the Bally’s announcement.

This means that parts of the gym will be closed for repair. Hopefully, they’ll finally clean up that pool. Oh, please let them dredge that pool, or at least use that net thing on it to remove the floating pubes unmentionables.

Oh goodie! I haven’t gone since May (I prefer outdoor activity in warm weather), was debating whether to re-join (in September). Now I definitely will. It’s well worth the money. Heck, for under $200 a year, it keeps me in reasonable shape, has everything I need. My friend kept trying to talk me into defecting to his fancy gym in Park Slope. Yeah, I’m going to travel for $800 a year just for gym-bragging rights. He’s got the wrong dude! (Now that his wife is stealing all his money, he’s thinking of joining Bally’s bahaha).

Chris B

Bally’s Total Fitness on Sheepshead Bay Road = Russian Baths II

You couldn’t pay me $1,000 a month to step foot in that dump and I live almost around the corner. And this was 20 years ago when I joined and quit because of it being overrun and turned into a Russian meat market. Oh, it smells too. Bad.

and what part of sheepshead bay ISN’T a smelly russian meat market? :-p

Dealshopper60

I can’t imagine this place improving by much. They would have to do a complete renovation, get new equipment in, CLEAN UP THE PLACE, especially the women’s locker room which is a pig sty! Mold growing on the walls, no shower curtains, water barely dripping out of the spouts. Disgusting all around. Gym floor has nothing to offer. Going to Harbor View on Nostrand Avenue. Much nicer by far.

bagels

I’ve been a member of Harbor Fitness (aka Forum Fitness) in Marine Park (Nostrand and Kings Highway) for the last two years. It’s a clean, no frills gym with a large weight area and a good supply of cardio machines. I think it’s 49.99/year but I got a sweet deal and locked in a lifetime membership of 15.99/yr. They usually try to drum up more business around the new year so look out for flyers or drop by and see what they offer. There’s plenty of street parking.

Go and visit the gym and see for yourself. Harbor Fitness bought it out in January so they did make some positive changes. It’s not a full service gym so there are no classes or sauna but trainers are available. Sometimes, they offer free weekly passes. It’s a comfortable place to work out.

ShadowLock

I will take you up on that. cause those reviews are for Forum.

i have all the right tools to weight loss, but not the equipment. a Nice Treadmill would be Great to walk/run on for 30min

They have Weights yes?

bagels

Lots of free weights and machines and plenty of treadmills with their own TVs….

AIG_Quant

I feel bad for anyone who still goes here. Never again.

gloria

They are upgrading all their gyms in Brooklyn.
You know what that means.
I smell a real buyer! Not just a rumor buyer.

arniethek

Any other outfit that buys this gym will be an improvement. The place is an embarrassment.

I’m not talking about anyone in particular, but there’s a lot of “I’m too good for xxx” type people around, where xxx stands for everything. I guess it’s their way of lifting their ego up in life. I prefer other ways. Bally’s is fine for me. Some of the lockers are in really disgusting shape, i agree, but besides that, the place is fine for the price. My purpose is to be healthy, not engage in status contests.

MC Palacio

Something to look forward to, will encourage more people to have fun on workouts. mytravelfitness.com

Bugg

Will they FINALLY ban all the old guys who think it’s perfectly okay to walk around the locker room naked as the day they were born?

Old Sheepshead Hand

I was at this Bally’s last night and the guy next to me on the elliptical had a stench that was beyond the normal for sweat. It was unreal. I think he had thrown up on himself and kept going. So I would like a ban on guys like this too.

Once in the locker room, a very drunken, very fat, very old man speaking in Russian or some other language, kept rambling very loudly to himself and then to me. Stalking me, pointing his finger in my face, and then plopped his very fat, very drunk Ass down on my things on the bench. Why I didn’t quit the gym right then and there I don’t know.

Sheepshead bally’s is a true landmark of the area. It’s a place we all love to hate, but secretly love it. Bally’s was on the brink of bankruptcy and sold off most of their gyms, going from 300+ national gyms which were run like no frills costco stores to just a few dozen (~60) in the tri-state area. Now, having only a fraction of the gyms they previously had, they can devote more attention to each individual gym. Sure, it’s still a no frills gym, but nonetheless, it’s a gym, not a 5 star hotel. For my money ($12/mo), im not looking to walk into a NYSC looking gym. They have in the last few years upgraded their free weights from exposed steel plates to rubberized ones, added a bunch of new cable machines in place of the boxing ring and replaced some older ellipticals with elliptical trainers.

Sure, the locker rooms are your standard grimy high school type, but one should not care since most of the gym time should be spent working out. Sure, there are old naked men wandering around the locker rooms, whether you choose to look at them or not is your own prerogative. Sure, the showers are your standard military type, but its a gym, not a spa resort. The steam room is not all that bad either, just wear flip flops and bring a towel or wear trunks so you’re not in contact with the old tiling. The dry sauna, though electronic and not the traditional water over rocks type is not all that bad either. It looks like they started painting the pool. Looking good so far with bright light blue paint. Personally, I don’t go to the pool as it is way too chlorinated, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It looks like they also hired full time cleaning staff.

In the end the responsibility is of the people using the gym. They should not leave their garbage in the locker room or throw paper towels on the floor, wipe down machines and have courtesy to bring a workout towel and put on some deodorant. Ultimately, its a gym. You come here to lift weights and run on machines, and while the surroundings may or may not be to ones liking, the goal of a gym is to get in shape. One can lift weights just as well in a mediocre bally’s at $12-15/mo as they can in a $50-70/mo NYSC. If you’re looking for luxury, gym shouldn’t be in that category. In the soviet union, people used to work out in the neighborhood park by lifting logs and bricks, doing pull ups on monkey bars, etc.. (think Rocky 4 training scene). A true gym is supposed to be a little gritty. So, until then, ignore all the little trivial things and come in to pump iron.

BIG STEVE

You are correct Viad, but so are most of the other comments as well. The stench from too many people does impact all of us. It is often so bad you have to move away and the smell even permiates the machines so badly that one who works out on that now infected machine can walk away absorbing that smell like the Seinfeld episode with the smelly parking attendant infecting Jerry’s car! Lastly, in the evening I noticed less than 10% even carry a towel! It should be no towel, no work out! I hope they really do continue to upgrade, you are on point. PLEASE Bally’s users, carry a towel, shower, and use deodorant!!!!

Cyclerock

LA Fitness bought a bunch of Ballys, and Ballys closed 1 or 2 completely. I joined Ballys at Sheepshead a real, long time ago, but mostly went to other B’s. I’m back at Sheepshead since the other ones closed. As far as gyms go, the Sheepshead location isn’t horrible. All the equipment is there. The ppl, crowding, (etc), that make it bad. I am in as good as shape as anyone. That is because I consistently work out and not focus on stupid sht. For price and convenience, the hell hole of Bally’s is tough to beat. Everything is there: free weights, machines, spin class, aerobics, an actual jogging track, ab benches. I just wish they didn’t sell/close the other ones I went to that were along the way when I travel around for work.

Cyclerock

To the article writer: Do your research. The pool was emptied out a few weeks ago. I wonder if they plan to do away with it completely. i was out of town the past week or so and haven’t seen what is going on with it.

Seenababe

I am a member at Bally’s in Bensonhurst and it sucks. The wieght room is way too congested. Who ever “designed” it has no idea about working out. The locker room stinks, dirty, lockers are broken…gross. I only go there because I am a life time member, and I don’t drive…so I just do what I can as quickly as I can and leave. The manager stinks too. The people that work there are not in any “shape” and they go outside to smoke…helllllooooooooo you work in a health club!

Thank god for small favors. That gym needs it badly. Machines broken, nasty bathroom, etc. This gym is convenient for me, because its so close to home. I work in Manhattan on the west side, but not too many on the west side, and the one nice one on the west side closed. That was a nice one.

Zwei Xoxo

Currently I go to the Kings Highway branch.Does this place have a massive roach infestation too?